FBI: Well will take time to excavate

Wednesday

Jan 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

LINDEN - After two days of digging at an abandoned well in Linden, the FBI released details of how it hopes to excavate the well and possibly find remains of victims of killers Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine.

The Record

LINDEN - After two days of digging at an abandoned well in Linden, the FBI released details of how it hopes to excavate the well and possibly find remains of victims of killers Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine.

The well had been excavated 10 feet down by Tuesday, and the FBI has taken a core sample to try to determine the depth and condition of the soil in the filled-in well.

A news release Tuesday from the FBI said that no specific victim has been linked to this well but that "a variety of investigative resources has indicated that the site may contain the remains of one or more individuals."

The FBI had interviewed Shermantine and even took him off of death row one day to point out possible burial sites.

Shermantine had been raised in the Linden area with his childhood friend Herzog.

The FBI said it may take a while to excavate the well, since it plans to dig by hand and does not anticipate going deeper than five feet a day.

Last year, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office unearthed the remains of two known victims of Herzog and Shermantine - JoAnn Hobson, a 16-year-old who disappeared in 1985, and Kimberly Billy, a 19-year-old reported missing in 1984 - as well as those of an unidentified woman and a fetus. They also recovered partial remains of Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, a 16-year-old missing since 1985, and Cyndi Vanderheiden, a 25-year-old who disappeared in 1998.

The FBI is taking the lead on this search but is working with Cal OSHA to ensure safety of workers at the site as well as the California State University, Chico, Department of Forensic Anthropology, the San Joaquin County Department of Public Works, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and Drill Tech Drilling and Shoring, the private firm hired to help with the excavation.